Jane Austen’s novels are as much about vice and virtue as marriage and manners.
Books
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Why Fiction Matters: An interview with George Saunders
“My job is to make what happens within the story convincing and accurate and compelling and believable – and if I am a decent observer of human nature and the world, all theological ideas can find a home here.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Beat Attitude: Jack Kerouac’s unexpected life
Despite his popular image, Jack Kerouac was born and died a self-identified Catholic.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
A Mother’s Tale
‘The Testament of Mary’ tells an intriguing though not always convincing story. It’s main character—and to an extent its only character—is an old woman fretting about her past as she tries to get the facts straight.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
After Dallas
Robert Caro’s biography of Lyndon Johnson is a profound analysis of Lord Acton’s 1887 maxim: power corrupts.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Youthful Indiscretions
Julian Barnes’s new novel is a philosophical mystery that morphs into a morality tale.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
The Everyday Poet
William Carlos Williams rejected the poetic conventions of the time in favor of a distinctly American verse.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
The Visible Man
Does H. G. Wells still hold any interest for us? David Lodge thinks so.
Posted inArts & Culture, In All Things
Readings: A Great Book is Like the Eucharist
I don rsquo t read on the beach The beach is for long walks and quick plunges into the surf I am at Sea Bright the northernmost town on the Jersey Shore for two weeks and I brought Pat Conroy rsquo s My Reading Life with me perfect company as I sit in the front room or on the balcony overloo